Off-grid solutions can be designed to provide affordable electricity to poor communities in hard-to-reach areas but receive only a fraction of annual global investment in energy provision. Governments hoping to harness these technologies to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 — universal access to energy by 2030 — must therefore find new ways to attract more finance. Drawing on research in Nepal and Bangladesh, this briefing shows how policymakers, financiers, civil society and the private sector can leverage ‘inclusive’ financing models to unlock the private investment needed to provide off-grid systems to marginalised communities and bridge the energy access gap.